Northpinellas: Part-time city worker wins council seat

He has served on various committees and has worked part time as the city's annexation coordinator. Now, he says, he is ready for his next challenge: a seat on the Seminole City Council.

On Tuesday, Bengston was appointed to the seven-member body, filling the seat vacated by Penny Rasmussen, who resigned last month to take a job in North Carolina. Bengston will serve until March, when the term expires. He said he will run for office in the March election.

"I'm just so happy," Bengston said Wednesday. "I didn't go to bed (Tuesday) night until 2 o'clock."

Bengston, 66, who owns Seminole Florist with his wife, Fay, won the seat after receiving a majority of votes by City Council members.

"It's something he's always wanted to do," Mrs. Bengston said. "If he's happy, it's fine."

Other contenders for the job were Anne Cheetham, a former City Council member and mother of Rasmussen; Dr. Bob Barnes, a legal guardian of his three grandchildren; Charles Harrison, a Realtor and former board member of Seminole Fire Rescue; Leo Mutchler, former owner of an insurance agency in Racine, Wis.; Phyllis Schaefer, homemaker and resident of Seminole since 1968; and Pamela Mavis-Hilburn, a bank customer relations manager.

"It's always exciting for me to see somebody new come on to the council because you can experience their enthusiasm," said Mayor Dottie Reed. "I think that enthusiasm is always good for the city."

Bengston said he feels honored to be a part of a successful operation.

"I want to become an active member of a great team that is now in place," he said. "To me, having the experience of being on the committees and then working in the administration has taught me a lot."

Since 1996, Bengston has served in a number of volunteer capacities for the city, including as a member of the charter review committee, chairman of the recreation advisory board and a member of the business licensing committee. Bengston also serves as a member of the community advisory board of St. Petersburg Junior College's Seminole campus. And until Wednesday, he worked for the city as its part-time annexation coordinator.

Bengston became familiar with Seminole's annexation policies in 1998 when the condominium complex he lives in became part of the city. In February, he was hired to spend about 20 hours a week talking to people about the city and offering to help organize meetings in neighborhoods without property owners associations.

"I feel as a town we have been successful in what we've been trying to do," he said. "But we don't go into areas unless we're invited."

In June, voters in three unincorporated neighborhoods overwhelmingly approved joining the city. The annexation, which nearly doubled Seminole's land mass, was the largest in the city's history and among the biggest ever in Pinellas County.

Bengston moved to Florida from Springfield, Mass., in the 1940s. His family moved to St. Petersburg, where he graduated from St. Petersburg High School in 1953. He worked a few years for the FBI in Washington, D.C., before returning to the bay area.

He then worked for 30 years in the security division at the former Department of Energy plant on Bryan Dairy Road. He and his wife bought Seminole Florist in 1986.

The Bengstons lived near Seminole High School for 31 years before moving to the Shores of Long Bayou four years ago. The couple has three grown daughters and three granddaughters.

"It's been our community, and I'm trying to return some of the things this wonderful community has done for me," he said.

- Times staff writer Maureen Byrne covers the city of Seminole. She can be reached at (727) 445-4153 or at byrne@sptimes.com.

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